Over two dozen companies raised money via initial public offerings (IPOs) in the last three months of 2023. Through 2023, as many as 57 companies raised funds via mainboard IPOs, way more than the 40 companies that went public in 2022, indicating a huge appetite in the primary market.
However, the total fundraising via mainboard IPOs by these 57 companies declined 17 per cent from a year ago at Rs 49,434 crore, compared with Rs 59,302 crore raised in 2022, according to a report by Prime Database, which tracks capital market activity.
The IPOs of Mankind Pharma (Rs 4,326 crore), Tata Technologies (Rs 3,043 crore) and JSW Infrastructure (Rs 2,800 crore) were among the biggest in 2023. However, the average deal size reduced significantly to Rs 867 crore in 2023 from Rs 1,483 crore in 2022.
The average listing gain (based on closing price on listing day) was up 29 per cent, compared with 11 per cent in 2022, which further boosted investor confidence.
One segment that was buzzing in 2023 was small and medium enterprises IPOs. There were as many as 182 SME IPOs, raising Rs 4,681 crore more than double the Rs 1,875 crore raised by 109 SME companies in 2022.
Overall public equity fundraising (including offer for sales, qualified institutional placements, infrastructure investment trusts etc.) surged 59 per cent in 2023 to over Rs 1.44 lakh crore from around Rs 90,886 crore in 2022.
"While we saw companies from multiple sectors tapping the IPO market in 2023, one key sector, which had a limited presence was BFSI (banking, financial service and insurance) with just Rs 6,190 crore (or 13 per cent) being raised by companies from this sector (in comparison to 46 per cent in 2022). New age technology companies too were few at just 2 (Yatra and Mamaearth)," said Pranav Haldea, managing director, PRIME Database Group.
The outlook as far as IPOs are concerned also remains strong. Prime Database notes that 27 companies looking to raise Rs 28,500 crore are presently holding SEBI approval, while another 36 companies looking to raise around Rs 40,500 crore are awaiting approval.
"The next couple of months should see several IPOs being launched before a pause on account of the general elections," said Haldea.